Five Minute Friday ~ Quiet

"Come and get your free write on in just 5 minutes!

Where a beautiful crowd spends five minutes all writing on the same topic and then sharing ‘em over here [@ Lisa Jo's]!

...Now, set your timer, clear your head, for five minutes of free writing without worrying about getting it right.

1. Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking.

2. Link back here and invite others to join in.

3. And then absolutely, no ifs, ands or buts about it, you need to visit the person who linked up before you & encourage them in their comments. Seriously. That is, like, the rule. And the fun. And the heart of this community..

OK, are you ready? Please give us your best five minutes on..."

Quiet…

...GO

A relatively new tradition for our family... celebrating its two-and-one-half birthday soon...

At least one Saturday morning a month, I wake early and in the quiet of those last dark hours while listening to the bats beep, the call to prayer from the mosque over the hill and the soft gurgling of water running over the barrage,  I make doughnuts...

chocolate cream filled sprinkled with vanilla sugar

pumpkin cream filled sprinkled with pumpkin spiced sugar

Even though it means I don't sleep in on Saturday, in this most-of-the-time lively, noisy full-to-bursting with eight kids and their friends home, those few hours of nonstop motion in such relative quiet also measure sanity for Mama. I think about making doughnuts... boiling milk, sifting flour, proofing yeast, measuring spices, kneading dough, cutting holes, heating oil, dripping glaze... Ironic that I uncover such restfulness in a lack of sleep and quiet busyness? Perhaps, but these simple yet creative tasks gentle my spirit, distract me from pressing matters, give me something on which to focus my actions and coordinate my thoughts. Not Scripture, I'm still directed to thing on lovely, pure, noble, good things like serving my family, the smiles on their faces, the success of adapting a recipe or what I learned when it didn't work so well, how my Lord is standing in the kitchen, quietly visiting with me as I work.

pumpkin maple glazed yeast doughnuts

I discovered an archaic term for worry... I thought the word existed only in French, but inquiet was once used in English, too. It denotes anxiety, worry, lack of peace, striving, fighting, opposition...

The opposite of quiet ~ 

STOP!

early morning helpers glazing doughnut holes

while sneaking tastes of the glaze

fruit of the labor - lots of smiles and delighted taste buds